


Their Last Trick

by imnotcrazyiswear, KilljoysNeverDie



Series: Of Tricksters and Archangels [8]
Category: Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fighting, Friendship, I don't know, One Last Prank, Stark Tower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 21:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1913805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotcrazyiswear/pseuds/imnotcrazyiswear, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KilljoysNeverDie/pseuds/KilljoysNeverDie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>We are sorry that it took us so long. But here, the last part of Of Tricksters and Archangels.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Their Last Trick

**Author's Note:**

> We are sorry that it took us so long. But here, the last part of Of Tricksters and Archangels.

The loud singing of the birds combined with the bright sunlight, shining through the high windows, let Loki’s eyes flatter open. Immediately agony shot through his head and a pained moan escaped the god’s pale lips. He rarely got drunk, but when he did, the hangover came sooner or later. Loki pressed his cold hands against his eyes, hoping it would relieve the pain. With clenched teeth, the god tried to recall the last night. He came to midgard, he met Gabriel. They had talked, they had fought, but eventually they reconciled. After that they had started to drink and somehow Loki had drunken more than he had should. He sighed. How embarrassing!

Again Loki tried to open his eyes, this time he was more successful. Blinking a few times, the god with the messy black hair realized that he wasn’t in ‘his’ room. Analyzing his surroundings, Loki guessed that he was in Gabriel’s room, judged by the more luxurious furniture. The god grimaced. He really didn’t want to know how he had gotten there.

Carefully he stood up, ignoring the pounding in his head and left the room. Loki slowly wandered into the direction of the garden, where he expected Gabriel to be.

Gabriel had spend the night sitting next to the bed where he had placed the Norse. A few hours of barely being conscious later he felt much better and completely sober again. He was thankful that he could just wish the feeling of being hungover away and didn’t have to cope with headaches or other bad feelings that could come with drinking.

He made sure that Loki was still breathing and went downstairs. The angel made some breakfast for the god and sat in the morning sun with his favorite version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — the original book from 1865 — and waited for his guest to wake up.

Finally Loki found Gabriel. A little bit awkwardly the god cleared his throat and sat down next to his friend.

“Good morning, Gabriel.” He grumbled and shielded his eyes from the sun.

The god grimaced a bit, when he realized that the archangel was reading a midgardian book. _Even the literature in Asgard is more pleasant._ Loki thought and rolled his eyes.

Gabriel placed the book next to the bench on the ground and looked at Loki.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.” he smiled a little.

“I made breakfast. If you want some.” If he was honest he probably just tried to not speak about what happened last night. Gabriel avoided the god’s eyes but still tried not to seem as uncomfortable as he really was.

The god forced a small smile on his lips and held back a sigh.

“Do not call me that!” Loki grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest.

He glanced over to the plate of food and grimaced a bit. Alone the thought of eating something made his stomach turn.

“Thank you, that is very kind.” The god said and smiled slightly. “But I am not hungry.”

“Sorry.” he said silently but he didn’t really feel sorry. He was used to people not liking what he called them.

“Is there any way I could help with you feeling better? Good thing I left some grace at your body. It prevented you from already feeling sick yesterday.” He hadn’t thought about the aftermath. It wasn’t one of his usual problems after all.

“No, thank you.” Loki responded with an honest smile. “If I drink, I will have to deal with the consequences.”

Even though the god didn’t believe in magic to prevent a hangover, he was a bit jealous that Gabriel seemed to be perfectly fine.

The angel nodded. “Just say something when you change your mind.” He offered with a small smile.

“So … do you remember everything that happened last night?” He asked after some moments of silence. He didn’t like this kind of silence at all but he didn’t really knew what to say either.

Suddenly Loki wished he had another drink.

“Yes.” He simply answered and frowned.

“There were flowers and cats, I believe.”

When the god looked around the garden a bit, he spotted the burned bit of grass where Gabriel had placed some red flowers, before Loki had burned them.

“Right, the cats. You named them” he shook his head lightly. “And the two of us were trying to kill purple because no body needs it, I suppose…” Gabriel added and closed his eyes for a second too long.

“That was quite embarrassing.” The god agreed and scratched the back of his head.

A small laugh escaped him and he focused on Gabriel.

“But funny to look at, I think.”

“I thought it was funny. Fits the childish part of you, I think.” Because there was a childish part inside himself and Loki’s behavior some hours earlier reminded him of that. A smile appeared on his lips.

Loki returned the smile after he had rolled his eyes.

“Well, when you said childish, an idea popped into my mind.” Loki announced with a mischievously grin.

“We should have some fun, before we return to work, do you not think?”

Gabriel didn’t even think about his answer to that. “I’m down. What do you suggest?” Perhaps the trickster already had something in mind. At least that look on his face gave Gabriel some hope that it would be something awesome.

“Nothing special.” The god said and stood up. He grinned once again. While Loki turned around and walked a few meters, he changed his form into that of Odin.

“Maybe we should pay the so called Avengers a short visit.”

Gabriel watched his friend closely and when he heard what his idea was about a huge smile appeared on his lips. That could be kind of awesome.

“What are you going to tell them then?” He wanted to know and tilted his head to the left.

The god had a thoughtful look on his face, before he threw his hands up in the air and sighed.

“I think the looks on their faces would be quite funny if the allfather just dropped by for a little chat.”

A small chuckle escaped Loki, which sounded really weird coming from Odin’s body.

“Good point. Okay, so why am I with you then? Or won’t I be? Like, who needs to be seen when he can be invisible.” He smiled brightly and tried to keep the feelings down that he felt when he first found out about Loki hiding in this form. He wouldn’t start this conversation about the whys again because he couldn’t ignore his feelings. Not even real feelings, just memories.

“But would it not be even funnier when you accompany me?” Loki asked thoughtfully and let his gaze wander around the garden.

“You have met the Avengers, have you not? They would be even more puzzled, when you and the allfather come together.”

“Yeah, when I wanted to get you out of there. What I did somehow… They aren’t the smartest. Not all of them at least.” He laughed. “And you are probably right. So I think we’ve got a plan there.”

Loki grinned madly and rubbed his hands enthusiastically.

“Then let us begin!” He shouted happily. Well happy didn’t quite match his feelings, euphoric would probably fit better. The god was really happy that he and Gabriel were able to have fun again.

Gabriel stood up to stand next to Loki. “Am I teleporting us there or have you got a better method to get wherever they are right now?”

He tilted his head again.

“Teleporting sounds fine.” He said and grinned like a maniac. Well, he didn’t exactly know were these mortals were, so Gabriel would have to find them.

Gabriel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He would just look for the one that was the easiest to find.

“Do you think they’re together right now? I can probably find the magnetic guy — Tony Stark is his name I think.” He asked while searching different parts of the country.

“That, I do not know.” Loki admitted thoughtfully. “But Tony Stark still owes me a drink.”

He remembered the scene at the tower of that mortal and almost had to laugh. It had been ridiculously embarrassing.

Gabriel nodded slowly and concentrated a little more. “Oh such a surprise. New York City. High building.” He smiled at the god and cocked an eyebrow. “Ready?”

The god shot him a challenging look and chuckled. They would have so much fun!

“Ready when you are.” Loki shouted and tried to ‘get into character’.

Gabriel smiled a little. _Poor Steve_ he thought _Let’s hope he_ _isn't there. Or_ _won’t be too shocked when he sees me again,_ _at least_ _._

The angel chose a place to go and the next moment they weren’t in the mansion any longer.

Loki looked around and realized that they were on top of that horrible metal tower, which belonged to the man of metal. They were on some kind of balcony and through the glass facade the god could see five stunned faces.

“See, I’m still good at landing on just the right places. I think we confused them.” He chuckled on the inside but didn’t let any of the humans hear or see it. “After you.” He looked at his friend and at the Avengers afterwards.

Loki chuckled too and with his best impression of Odin, he raised his head and entered the building.

It had gotten very quiet in the Stark Tower, only the sound of Tony, pouring himself a drink, filled the tense silence. They all suspected who was visiting them, even though they didn’t know _why._

“Greetings, Avengers of Midgard.” Loki began and grimaced internally.

“Greetings, Grandpa.” Tony answered mockingly and took a sip of his drink. Natasha and Bruce both shot him an evil glare.

“Who are you, sir?” Steve suddenly asked frowning. Was that another Asgardian? “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I am Odin, the Allfather, king of Asgard.” Loki spoke and wandered around the living room they currently were in.

The Avengers – minus Thor, who was currently visiting Jane – were speechless, but Loki didn’t care. In fact, he liked their sudden awe.

“I believe you have already met my companion.”

With a slight smile he gestured in Gabriel’s direction.

“Houdini!” Tony exclaimed surprised, when he an the others realized that there was someone else.

“What are you two doing here?”

“Nice to meet you too, nice … home … you built here.” He smiled at Tony Stark. “I still don’t like that name…” Gabriel murmured and snapped his fingers so Tony’s glass jumped into his own hand because he could and because last time the physicist had snatched Gabriel’s M&M’s.

Tony looked down at his empty hand and then back to Gabriel, before he crossed his arms.

“We are rea-” Steve began, but was silenced by Bruce. The man could always tell when Tony wanted to say something and right now, Tony _really_ wanted to say something.

“Listen, Houdini.” He said and glanced over to Odin, well Loki, before he poured himself another drink.

“I’m really honored that the great allfather and an archangel decided to drop by to get drunk, but I’d like to know _why._ ”

Natasha and Barton shared a look, before Hawkeye nodded in agreement.

“I don’t know the two of you, and I would’ve said it different, but yeah, I agree with Stark.”

Loki suddenly realized that this guy was the Barton he had under control for most his time on earth, he had to bite his tongue so he wouldn’t grin.

“I’m sorry for the behavior of my colleagues.” Bruce said silently and massaged his temples. There were two powerful beings in this room and his friends decided to be rude.

“We are here, because I wanted to thank you and apologize.” Loki began and smiled.

“I want to thank you, for fighting against Loki and the Chitauri when I myself could not do it. And I want to apologize for not being able to stop the dark elves, before they harmed your realm.”

“As if I could get drunk. You really think that?” His voice was just loud enough to be audible.

He listened carefully to what they were saying so he wouldn’t miss even a small change in their mood. He did that all the time but these humans weren’t ‘normal’ humans after all. “Actually there is no real reason I am here because I won’t say thank you for _anything_ since there is nothing I could thank you for. I offered to teleport us here but oh well. I just wanted to see my good friend again I suppose.” He grinned at Tony and tried a sip of the drink.

Loki shot his friend a weird look, before he concentrated on other things. In the meanwhile, Tony grinned like a child and pulled out a bag of M&M’s from under the counter. He carefully opened it and poured half of the content into his mouth, chewing with a wide grin.

“Gross.” Natasha grumbled and stood up. “I think I’m going to run a few rounds. I can’t deal with that many supernatural people in one room.”

“I’m in.” Barton agreed and followed Natasha to the elevator. He still recovered from the incident with Loki and couldn’t deal with Asgardians at the moment.

Steve watched them leave and Loki could clearly see that the man wanted to leave, too. He wasn’t too comfortable when the messenger of god was in the room.

Loki chuckled lightly. These mortals were highly entertaining.

Gabriel watched Steve out of the corner of his eye while looking at the two leaving humans until they were on the far end of the room. He turned his head into the Captain’s direction then. “I’m sorry. I really am.” He was. It wasn’t right to disappoint those who had faith.

_They all want to run away from us. Sad thing when no one has enough respect to say a nice goodbye._ he messaged Loki. _They aren’t as much fun as they were last time._

Loki just shrugged into Gabriel's direction. _We might have picked a bad day._

Silently Loki sat down next to Bruce, who seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Nice planet, you have here.” The god tried to start a conversation.

“Umm… Thanks?” Bruce replied a bit awkwardly. That was definitely a weird situation they were in.

Meanwhile, Steve nodded at Gabriel and tried to smile slightly.

“For me it is enough to know that you really exist.” The man explained silently and looked down to his hands. “The rest is unimportant, sir.”

Steve blushed a bit, even to him that had sounded a bit cheesy. Tony rolled his eyes.

“Gosh, Steve, I told you to tell me when you are in love!”

“Shut your mouth, Stark!”

Gabriel chuckled silently when he saw what Loki was doing and stepped next to Steve, smiled almost fondly. “Be strong, it’s worth it. You are a good man and I will make sure that no demon will get a hand on you in case of a tragedy. But as long as you are alive I’m sorry but I think I can’t do much for you.” He sighed silently.

He turned his head in Tony’s direction when he heard him talking. “Oh honey don’t be jealous. You’ll get enough of my time later.” Well, maybe not.

“Sorry.” Tony said chuckling. “I think I’ll have to ask Pepper first.”

Steve simply nodded again and silently thanked the archangel.

Bruce on the other hand was sitting awkwardly on Tony’s couch, trying to stay as serious as possible.

“Well…” He said and rubbed the back of his head. “How is the business in Asgard going.”

“Great.” Loki simply answered and looked around the room.

“Oh I bet you’ve had a threesome before and damn you should have seen the orgies pagan gods had last century. Or the one before that. You’d be pretty jealous I think.” Gabriel grinned and looked at Tony again.

“Sorry.” He offered Steve an apologetic look but that was all he said to him before he took another sip of the liquid.

Tony grinned like a small child. He could literally see how Steve’s mood dropped and the weird look Bruce shot the allfather.

“A gentleman keeps quiet about his bedroom affairs.” Tony said and winked at Gabriel. Too bad Tony Stark wasn’t a gentleman.

When Loki realized Bruce was looking at him, he grinned at the scientist and crossed the arms over his chest.

“Do not judge us, Bruce Banner.”

Gabriel shrugged and started walking around the room, looking at everything that looked like it could be interesting. “Gentleman, huh. Good that I don’t have to live like you humans think its ‘good’. I would fail all the way through.” He chuckled and shot a short look at Bruce Banner, grinning.

“Oh god…” Steve muttered. The Captain looked like he wanted to cry, he really had thought (well, hoped) that the messenger of god lived after his fathers rules. But when he looked at the archangel now, he saw a bad mixture between Tony Stark and Loki. And _that_ was a reason to cry.  
“Dad has nothing to do with that. Maybe the problem is that I was raised by Lucifer since Michael had things to do and dad … yeah. I am sorry?” he offered the apology again.

Bruce sent his friend a worried look, before he sent Tony a warning one.

“I didn’t mean to judge your, um, highness?” The scientist tried to explain to the allfather sitting across him.

Loki simply smiled, like the generous god he was.

“Oh, no offense taken.” He said and smiled friendly.

“But, Gabriel, you should not talk like that in front of the saviors of midgard.”

“No, no!” Tony intervened quickly. “I think you should continue, Houdini.”

Gabriel finished his circle around the room and stopped next to Tony and glanced over to his friend. “What’s wrong with how I am talking? I do this longer than they are even around.” He murmured silently and tried to not smile.

“You really should stop calling me that. It’s not nice of you, kiddo. Really not.” He chuckled. The angel didn’t believe that that was a reason for the physicist but he could try. “And maybe a nice confession would be good for you. I can take it, if you want. Have you ever done something like that? I suppose not. Do you even know what a church looks like on the inside? There is a nice St. Gabriel’s church not far from here. I kinda lived there for some time when it was built.” One side of his lips curved into a smile and he emptied the glass he was still holding.

“Well, that was a long monologue…” Steve muttered silently and sighed.

“I better go now.”

With that he stood up and quietly left the room. Steve really didn’t want his whole picture of religion crushed, so he figured it would be better to go before Stark started to warm up with the archangel. The outcome of that would be horrible!

Tony and Bruce looked after the Captain for a second, before they turned back to the god and Gabriel.

“Houdini, Houdini, Houdini!” Stark teased the angel. “Y’know, I’m not really a religious person. So naah, thanks buddy.”

He grinned and took a sip from his drink, ignoring Bruce’s annoyed glare.

_His manners will get him killed one day._ The scientist thought and rolled his eyes.

Loki found the whole scene really amusing. His look darted between the three other men, while the god grinned like a maniac. If he wasn’t careful enough, someone might guessed that he wasn’t the real Odin.

“I’d be careful if I was you. I could smite you with just a thought about it and I know a place where I could even lock up your boyfriend over there. When it’s strong enough to keep an archangel in place …” He chuckled again and looked at Bruce again. “I’d say sorry but I’m afraid you aren’t religious enough.”

He held his glass out to Tony, silently asking for it to be filled again.

Bruce rolled his eyes once again. _Great. Like two old women fighting over who knits better…_

Tony on the other hand, crossed his arms and refused to give Gabriel anymore of his precious alcohol.

“Rude.” He grumbled and walked over to the glass front.

“I’m bored. Let’s play ping pong.”

Gabriel looked at the scientist and sighed. “Idiot.” He smiled and refilled his glass with a thought of it.

“Ping pong is boring.”

Gabriel walked over to Odin, Loki, whatever, and sighed again. “Where is your son? I haven’t seen him in a while.” He really wondered if the god knew where Thor was.

“I believe he is with that mortal woman.” Loki answered and grimaced.

“Oh, Jane Foster, right?” Tony asked and wiggled his eyebrows. “ _Hot_!”

“Incredibly intelligent.” Bruce agreed.

Loki just shrugged and wandered around the room, letting his gaze wander around it. These mortals began to bore him.

“She is a _mortal_!” The god finally sighed.

Even though he wasn’t too fond of Thor anymore, his brother still deserved something better than a human.

Gabriel nodded slowly and let himself fall next to Bruce.

_Have you got any idea how to make this an unforgettable day, brother?_ he didn’t look at Loki but clearly addressed the trickster.

“Does he ever think about something else?” Gabriel asked Bruce and looked over to Tony.

Loki sighed and sent Gabriel a look over his shoulder.

_I do not know, have you an idea, my friend?_

“No, I don’t think so.” Bruce answered and frowned slightly, ignoring Tony’s protesting “hey!”.

_W_ _e could throw him off the building but that would be mean…_

“Good, another child I can watch out for.” He laughed and shot a grin at Tony.

_Swapping their bodies wouldn’t be something new or creative as well._

_Well, I already threw the man of Iron out of this building. And we already swapped someones bodies._ Loki thought a bit pouting.

If this wouldn’t get exciting soon, he may have to kill someone to stay entertained.

“I’m not a child!” Stark protested, which made Banner grin like an idiot.

“Well since you sent him home it’s partly your fault that my friend got killed and he was like a child too, sometimes — which I already told you but oh well – so maybe I should just take you with me, lock you in somewhere and have fun.” Gabriel looked at the physicist the whole time.

_Really? Oh … Okay, do you think I can make them angry enough for a fight? I would rather send them to a different reality but that takes way more time._

“What did I miss?” Tony asked suddenly and frowned.

“Did I do something to make you angry, right now? Because if we hadn’t sent the ice princess home, he would’ve destroyed the whole earth!”

Bruce nodded slightly. Tony had a point. Loki though, was grimacing a bit. He didn’t like this Stark guy, the man was to fond of giving everyone nicknames.

_I think you can make him angry, but you should not do that to the man called Banner._

_I would just disappear and they would have to deal with it_ he smiled without letting it be seen on his face, it was just some kind of feeling he sent with his words.

“You didn’t miss anything. I just don’t like when some idiotic, small, weak human is responsible for the death of some part of my family.” His voice was perfectly calm but he started walking towards Tony. “Who do you even think you are?”

“Billionai-”

“Tony, don’t even start!” Bruce promptly interrupted and walked up to his friend. He shot Gabriel a pleading look and sighed.

“I’m sorry. _We_ are sorry, okay? I know how hard it is to loose family, but Tony is right. Loki would’ve destroyed the planet!”

“Yes, he would have done it.” The god agreed and snickered internally.

_I still would, but Gabriel will not let me._

Gabriel laughed bitterly and shook his head slightly. “I have better methods to deal with creatures like him than locking them up. But why would you listen to the archangel who survived the longest. I tell you what you are. Pathetic.”

He turned to face ‘Odin’. “You know just as well as I do that everything would have been a better solution. He was smart, he knew what to do and together we would have found a way. And I would have helped him but no, it’s better when he dies, isn’t it? That’s always the easiest way.” He turned back around. “But let me tell you, easy doesn’t mean good or right. Stupid and weak and completely dumb, that’s what you are.”

“You know what, Houdini? You are a fucking drama queen!” Tony answered angrily.

“Look guys, please just calm down, would you?” Bruce said and rubbed the back of his head. “You don’t want the other guy to make a mess.”

In the meanwhile, Loki enjoyed the spectacle and sat down on Tony’s couch. He grinned madly and tried to hold back a laughter.

“Yes, maybe I am. And maybe you are just too stupid to see what you could do with this planet. This was a wonderful place and then the humans came. The only reason that I didn’t kill some of you yet is that I am supposed to love humanity. Now that I rule heaven that could change.” He glared an Stark.

“ _I_ wouldn’t care. I can always use those wonderful wings of mine to disappear or I stop possessing this vessel and destroy everything around by just speaking. But you probably can’t imagine that. You don’t even believe in me.” He wasn’t sure who he was talking to but he looked at Tony the whole time.

“You can always just leave. No one is stopping you.” This was definitely for Bruce Banner.

“But when I go, you kill Tony, right?” Bruce said with a sad smile before Tony could continue to insult the archangel. “But like you do, I protect my friends and family.”

For a few moments nobody said anything and Loki was actually quite impressed by how brave that human was. Brave and incredibly stupid.

“I wouldn’t directly kill him… Just …” He raised one of his hand and a small light that was pure electricity ran his fingers up and down again, coated his hand for a second and vanished again. “My hand could maybe slip but that would be an accident. Nothing more. How strong has it to be to get that precious little light in your chest to die? Or would it be so strong that your skin burns? Accidents happen.” He smiled and his voice sounded as if he was just having a talk about what he had had for dinner the day before.

_Enjoying the show?_

Loki grinned like a small child on Christmas eve, yeah he was definitely enjoying the show.

“You know what?” Stark began again, this time Bruce didn’t stop him.

“You are exactly like him. Like Loki. You would murder someone without mercy and you still think you are some kind of peaceful-glitter-glowy-angel. Thats why I don’t believe in your crappy religion.”

_Ohh, that must have hurt._ The god thought happily and continued to observe the situation.

Gabriel laughed loud and was more archangel than anything else at that moment. “You still think we are here to protect you stupid mortals? We are nothing more than warriors. We kill. We torture. We are soldiers. Now I’ve got my henchmen for that but I am still a weapon of heaven. Yes, I would murder any time. When it is for a greater purpose.” He took a unnecessary breath. “When you say I am like him I am proud about that. I take it as a compliment. I lived as trickster long enough to have the powers Loki had and I have a lot more possibilities.”

That was one of the rare moments Tony didn’t know what to say. He simply stared at the man in front of him and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Fine.” Tony hissed softly after some time. “Then go ahead. Kill me, Houdini.”

Suddenly Bruce turned to face his friend, shocked. “What are you doing?” He whispered softly, so only Stark could here it.

“No idea.”

After that, Bruce frowned angrily and shook his head. When he heard a soft chuckle, disguised as a cough, he realized that there still was someone else in the room.

“Do something, for gods sake!” Bruce exclaimed and threw his hands in the air. “I know that _you_ , allfather, have sworn to protect the nine realms and it’s inhabitants!”

Loki tried desperately to stay serious and cleared his throat. “Oh, of course! I am truly sorry, I forgot that for a second. Umm.. Gabriel! I demand you to leave midgard and never return!”

“He’s kidding. He can’t make me leave. It would start a war and that war wouldn’t be good because when the souls can’t leave earth after death they’ll stay here, trapped. Ghosts that get angry without any reason.” He smiled. “And I’m sorry but you are no threat at all to me and what would it be good for to kill you? You don’t worth enough for wasting my energy.”

He looked outside the window and sighed. “I wonder how you are able to build all these cities. You are still so stupid. And small. And weak. Did I mention dumb?”

Tony shrugged. “Sorry, grandpa, not everybody can be an oracle.” He answered calmly and poured himself another drink. He really started to dislike the archangel. Bruce on the other hand tried to stop Tony with angry glares from doing something even more stupid than insulting these mighty creatures.

One of these mighty creatures hid his wide grin behind the even bigger beard and stopped himself from chuckling. That was a spectacle Loki enjoyed greatly.

“Would you quit drinking in the name of my father? It makes you even more stupid than you are already!” the Archangel snapped his fingers and the glass exploded in Tony Stark’s hand. The liquid spilled everywhere but Gabriel made sure that the glass wouldn’t hurt the man’s hand. Not that he cared. He just didn’t want to upset the other man too much. Not yet. Who knew if hurting his friend would break something inside the scientist’s head.

“Thanks, Houdini.” Tony sighed and wiped his wet hand over his leg.

He thought about just getting another glass for a moment, but the warning look in Bruce's eyes was enough to stop him.

“Whatever we did to upset you, we are sorry.” Bruce finally said and held up his hands in defense.

“Who said I was upset? Maybe I’m just bored to death because nothing it’s happening in Heaven. But wait, how should an archangel be bored when there is so much for him to do when he is the one to _rule_ heaven. I mean everyone is going there these days because there are no sins in this world.” he answered with a voice that was pure irony.

“And maybe I just like playing with guys like him. It’s not your fault at all. Except you want to start offending me as well. When you call me that one more time I’ll find a way to make you stop. Well probably not, because the only way to stop humans like you is to kill them. But I’ll find a way to have some fun. Pain is a wonderful thing even to angels. Demons learned everything they know from Lucifer and he learned everything he knew from Michael. Just FYI.” he smiled sweetly at Tony.

“You aren’t the first one who wants to torture me. I can deal with that, _Houdini_.”

A small grin appeared on his face, as he pulled out another bag of M&M’s and started eating.

“Hey, Bruce.” The scientist started between two bites. “Remember that one time you redecorated the Stark Tower with Loki? Was pretty funny, right?”

Banner grimaced a bit. The Hulk had smashed Loki around the room they now were standing in and had called the asgardian prince a ‘puny god’.

Loki’s mood dropped instantly when he got reminded of that incident. That definitely wasn’t one of hid proudest memories.

Gabriel shrugged slightly and with a snap Stark flew through the window and right back, smashing more glass and finally landed on top of Bruce. This time Gabriel didn’t bother to keep the humans skin safe. “Stop it.” He said again. “And don’t talk about him as long as it’s not to say anything good. He didn’t die in shame, when I got that right.” He turned to his friend for a second before he looked at the two men in front of him.

“I just renovated that floor!” Tony coughed weakly and tried to stand up. The bruises, which covered his whole body, stung badly with every move he made and the billionaire had to admit that he hadn’t believed the archangel would do such a thing. But he tried to focus on the positive side; Loki was dead! In another situation, Stark would’ve been really angry that nobody had bothered to tell him the good news, but now he tried to push aside his feelings and not get himself – or Bruce – killed.

“Gabriel is right.” Loki said calmly and took a step forward.

“In fact, Loki died saving _your_ realm. You should be grateful.”

It still was weird to the god to talk about himself in third person, but it was a thing you got used to soon.

After a few seconds Loki, disguised as the allfather, realized that neither Stark or the monster named Banner paid attention to him. That was maybe because Tony stared at his friends with with wide eyes and saw how Bruce curled himself in a ball and tried to not turn into the Hulk. The scientist had lost his focus when Tony had crashed into him and now, his body bruised and with maybe one or two broken ribs, the Hulk wanted to get revenge.

“Jarvis.” Tony said softly and ignored Gabriel and the god, as he sat down next to his friend.

“Yes, sir?”

“Call Pepper, cancel the dinner.”

“Yes, sir. Do you want me to activate the houseparty protocol?”

“Nah, it isn’t ready yet. Don’t have enough suits. Just… don’t let anybody in, ‘kay?”

“As you wish, sir.”

Gabriel crossed his arms in front of his chest and calmly watched what was happening. He slowly walked over to Loki and sighed.

“Do you want me to get us out of here when he loses his control or do you want to stay a little longer?” He wanted to know, keeping his eyes on Bruce.

Loki wanted to answer, but suddenly there was a loud bang outside and when Loki turned around he saw Thor, standing on the terrace, Mjölnir in his hand.

“You should get us out of here.” The god suggested, but couldn’t hold back a small grin.

“What is the meaning of this?” Thor shouted as he entered the room, looking angry and confused at the same time.

_Well I didn’t expect this to happen. You want to find an explanation or shall I just tell him that it’s my bad?_ he sighed on the inside but flashed a grin at Thor. He was used to being the one who’s fault it was so this would just be another small point in the list of bad things, he wouldn’t care.

“Hey Thor, tell your dad and his boyfriend to get their asses out of my tower!” Tony grumbled and tried to calm Bruce down.

“Father? Gabriel? What are you doing here?” The asgardian asked and frowned. He had just visited Jane Foster and wanted to drop by for a chat with Tony Stark and entered a scene of full destruction. He shot his father a questioning look, but Odin – well, Loki – just shrugged.

_Tell him everything you like, but the truth. This dumb fool will believe anything._

_I don’t think he would believe that we came here to find, well, this and I was just about to help, would he?_

Gabriel kept standing with his arms crossed and sighed. “I asked him to have a little talk. That’s a) just something to make sure Heaven has some backup from you and you get some help from Heaven if anything similar to a war starts and b) none of your business. As long as you didn’t plan to get into the position of being king. That we ended up here is my fault.”

Thor still looked confused but nodded slowly.

“But what did you do to my friends?” He asked then, slightly angrier than before.

He saw how Bruce fought with himself and how Tony tried to wipe the blood from his face. Someone had harmed his friends and _nobody_ would do something like that without getting punished by him.

_Well, you could still try to tell him that and then we disappear before he can say anything else._ Loki thought and winked at Gabriel, desperately trying to hide his grin.

_Sounds like a plan. Almost._

He shrugged and looked from Bruce to Thor and back. “Whatever. Now you are here so I can go. I’ll take your father with me. If you don’t mind.” Not waiting for an answer he snapped his fingers and they disappeared from the Stark Tower.

Thor and Tony looked equally angry and surprised at the place where Odin and Gabriel had stood seconds before, when Steve, Natasha and Clint entered the room.

“Dammit, Jarvis!” Tony muttered softly and sighed.

“You can’t be alone in a room for two minutes without destroying anything, can you?” Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow and Clint shook his head.

“Not our fault.” Tony answered and shrugged.

Where did Gabriel and Odin go?   
Well, they were back in the garden of Gabriel’s mansion, where Loki grinned like a small kid and Christmas eve.

“That was great, my dear friend!”

“I think you’ll have some explaining to do later. Your _son_ will ask what that was about, I think.” When he said ‘son’ he started grinning and shook his head a little afterwards.

“It was nice, though.” He smiled. “You promise to tell me you are still okay now and then?” his smile turned into a sad one.

“I still am his king. I will not have to explain anything if I do not want to.”

Loki answered and chuckled, before his grin faded and he frowned.

“I will visit as often as possible, my friend.”

It would be difficult, though. They both had many things to do and they both had their duties. But Loki wasn’t willing to let this friendship fade, he was sure that he would go mad if he didn’t have Gabriel anymore.

“Can you promise me to remember your time as a trickster? Do not get too serious, it is not good for you.”

A small smile appeared on Loki’s face. Maybe that was just a thing he told himself to feel better – that it wasn’t good for Gabriel to be serious. In fact, it was bad for Loki to lose his only friend, because he didn’t want to have fun anymore.

Gabriel let his eyes wander to the ground and he sighed silently before he looked at Loki again. “Remind me then. Tell me now and then why I enjoyed running and hiding. Why my days don’t have to be all angelic and righteous. You still have my feather, don’t you?” He tried a small smile that tried to hide the pain he felt when he thought about being alone again. On the other hands side he wasn’t pushed away this time. This was right and it wasn’t even the worst case. It was probably even a good solution and that changed his smile into a true one.

“Of course.” Loki answered softly and pulled the feather out of one pocket.

“I always have it on me.”

He returned Gabriel’s smile and let his gaze wander around the garden. This was the only place in midgard worth protecting.

“Be careful with it. Unfortunately this is all that I can give you to remind you on how important you are to me.” He sighed but kept smiling. “I will miss those days.” There was nothing sad in his voice — he really would miss it but he would keep them in honor and remember them as some of the best days of his existence.

“These days will never be over.” Loki said casually and a mischievously grin appeared on his face. He pocketed the feather again and turned to face his friend. “I will ensure that.”


End file.
